Another BGN 6 mln flow along the Sevlievo water main to “old acquaintances”

The municipal administration in Sevlievo has assigned the repair of a water main in the town to a company that offered a higher price for the implementation of the project than the company ranked second in the tender and only 16 years warranty period of the facility against 54 years determined by its competitors.

The company-winner in the public procurement tender for the repair and reconstruction of half of the supply water main of the city, is “Stokite” /”Goods”-note of editor/. It is registered under the Obligations and Contracts Act /OCA/. The company ranked second with three points less than the winner is the “PST Group”.

For the selection of “Stokite” only one indicator has dominated – the 12 hour term for eliminating future water main accidents. This is clear from the minutes of the tender commission. The proposal of “PST Group” was within 24 hours.

For all other indicators – price, term of execution and warranty period, the “PST Group” has received more points, it is clear again from the minutes of the tender commission. The price proposal of the company is with BGN 55 lower than that of “Stokite”, and the implementation of the project is scheduled for 2 months and 27 days, against 3 months, given as a term by the winner in the procedure.

Why the warranty is important?

It is an assurance of the quality of used materials and construction activities. In addition, the warranty also determines the period during which the contracting authority (in this case the Municipality of Sevlievo) will not spend public funds for the elimination of defects and accidents.

In the public procurement for repair of the Sevlievo water main, the greatest weight is given to the proposed price – 40 points. The term for eliminating an accident gives 30 points to the participants, the period for implementation of the project – 20 and the warranty period – 10 points.

There is no logic. There are interests.

Partners in the Company under OCA “Stokite” are the Haskovo “Eco Tradex Group” and the Sevlievo “Infrastructures”. This is not the first association of the companies, owned by Velichko Minev and Momchil Momchilov, for the performance of public procurement in Sevlievo. Last year again, but united in Company under OCA “Winter Maintenance Sevlievo”, they were chosen to clean the snow from the roads and streets in the municipality for three years. The contract for performance of this activity is worth BGN 1.2 million, VAT included.

The two companies are preferred by Sevlievo Municipality individually as well.

Momchil Momchilov is the executive director of “Sevlievogas” company, where the local administration is the majority owner. At the same time, he is also a partner in two other companies – “Infraeco” and “Infrastructures”. In the first he is with his wife Ivelina and in the second – with the chief engineer of Sevlievogas Stefan Stefanov. Only for the last two years, Momchilov’s companies have worked on other municipal projects for nearly BGN 1.5 million. In most cases they are involved in public procurement procedures as companies under the Obligations and Contracts Act.

In 2013, “Infrastructure” is among the four companies working on the Water Cycle in Sevlievo – a project worth BGN 14.5 million provided by the European Union funds. In 2015 the companies of Momchilov perform the two new circular intersections in Sevlievo, for which BGN 300,000 have been paid from the municipal budget. Last summer, the same companies have won the public procurement of BGN 200,000 for the preparation of the municipal roads for winter. This year they repaired the sidewalks in Sevlievo for BGN 500,000. Again, a company in which the co-owner is Momchilov was assigned to perform the repair of the former primary school in the city, which costs BGN 200, 000. And recently, the company won a public procurement contract for bunker pumping stations for BGN 300,000.

The second favorite

“Eco Tradex Group” is also among the favorite companies of the local administration in Sevlievo. In 2016 and 2017 only, the company of Velichko Minev won public procurements for nearly BGN 8.4 mln, VAT excluded, for work on projects financed under the Operational Programme “Regions in Growth”. In 2015 the company also won a tender for repair of the municipal roads and streets for BGN 2.6 million. It also constructed and manages the operation of separating household waste facility in the city. As in many similar cases, here again, when selecting a contractor for its infrastructure projects, the municipal administration acted formally legally. However, this does not make less questionable its tendency to award procuremenst for which it pays with public money, to the same companies.